Abstract
In the last two decades, it has been suggested that the marketing discipline is undergoing a paradigm shift from a transactional perspective to a relational perspective (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2002). At the same time, there has been a call for the discipline to focus on accurate measurement of the outcome of marketing activities (Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar, & Srivastava, 2004). Extant research in this area has predominantly examined the sales and profitability of relationships through customer life time analysis or examined attitudinal measures such as satisfaction and loyalty. This paper attempts to combine both streams of research by examining the profitability, satisfaction and probability of switching associated with transactional customers, relationship customers (less than five years of relationship) and deep relationship customers (more than five years of relationship) in three business to business industries. The results demonstrate the transactional customers are most profitable followed by relationship and deep relationship customers. The probability of switching was in the reverse direction of profitability and there were no difference in satisfaction measures. Implications for research and practice and also derived in the paper.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 33-50 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Journal of Relationship Marketing |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2007 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Loyalty
- Metrics
- Profitability
- Relationship marketing
- Satisfaction
- Transactional customers
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Marketing
Cite this
The metrics of relationships : Measuring satisfaction, loyalty and profitability of relational customers. / Sharma, Arun.
In: Journal of Relationship Marketing, Vol. 6, No. 2, 01.10.2007, p. 33-50.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The metrics of relationships
T2 - Measuring satisfaction, loyalty and profitability of relational customers
AU - Sharma, Arun
PY - 2007/10/1
Y1 - 2007/10/1
N2 - In the last two decades, it has been suggested that the marketing discipline is undergoing a paradigm shift from a transactional perspective to a relational perspective (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2002). At the same time, there has been a call for the discipline to focus on accurate measurement of the outcome of marketing activities (Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar, & Srivastava, 2004). Extant research in this area has predominantly examined the sales and profitability of relationships through customer life time analysis or examined attitudinal measures such as satisfaction and loyalty. This paper attempts to combine both streams of research by examining the profitability, satisfaction and probability of switching associated with transactional customers, relationship customers (less than five years of relationship) and deep relationship customers (more than five years of relationship) in three business to business industries. The results demonstrate the transactional customers are most profitable followed by relationship and deep relationship customers. The probability of switching was in the reverse direction of profitability and there were no difference in satisfaction measures. Implications for research and practice and also derived in the paper.
AB - In the last two decades, it has been suggested that the marketing discipline is undergoing a paradigm shift from a transactional perspective to a relational perspective (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2002). At the same time, there has been a call for the discipline to focus on accurate measurement of the outcome of marketing activities (Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar, & Srivastava, 2004). Extant research in this area has predominantly examined the sales and profitability of relationships through customer life time analysis or examined attitudinal measures such as satisfaction and loyalty. This paper attempts to combine both streams of research by examining the profitability, satisfaction and probability of switching associated with transactional customers, relationship customers (less than five years of relationship) and deep relationship customers (more than five years of relationship) in three business to business industries. The results demonstrate the transactional customers are most profitable followed by relationship and deep relationship customers. The probability of switching was in the reverse direction of profitability and there were no difference in satisfaction measures. Implications for research and practice and also derived in the paper.
KW - Loyalty
KW - Metrics
KW - Profitability
KW - Relationship marketing
KW - Satisfaction
KW - Transactional customers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34748921061&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34748921061&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1300/J366v06n02_04
DO - 10.1300/J366v06n02_04
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34748921061
VL - 6
SP - 33
EP - 50
JO - Journal of Relationship Marketing
JF - Journal of Relationship Marketing
SN - 1533-2667
IS - 2
ER -